Beetlebat

Beetlebat (born November 1, 2002) is an American filmmaker, YouTuber, singer, rapper, music marketer, and Flex Entertainment executive. He is one of the most influential people in Flex history.

He was signed to Flex Entertainment on December 29, 2019. He became a Flex Entertainment Executive on January 31, 2020. He was later demoted from his position as executive in November 2020 due to his inactivity in the community at the time but was repromoted on February 23, 2021.

He makes experimental rap music with elements of pop and R&B. His first two singles were "Physics" and "On The Regular." Both songs became massive Flex Entertainment Hot 100 hits. He released his debut EP "Beginnings" on October 23, 2020. The lead singles for his debut mixtape "Be Dumb Bro" were "Sun Goes Down", "This Year", and "Innocent" were released between 2021 and 2022, all becoming number one singles. The mixtape would be released on September 30, 2022.

2013-2017: Humble Beginnings
In 2013, his friend, Legasauce, was writing lyrics to a song for his channel. He asked beetlebat to appear on the track with him. The song would be titled "The Grocery List Song" and the music video was released the same year. The music video was reuploaded in 2014 after the termination of Legasauce's channel. After experimenting with music on Beatlab, he made the instrumental track "Hearty." He released the song to his channel on April 6, 2017. He also released a remix to his friend Ruck's song "Ruckle Hero."

2019-2020: Beginnings
Beetle discovered Flex Entertainment through Brad Taste in Music's video about Lil Mosquito Disease's "''Infection." ''He started listening to multiple songs from the label and joined their discord in November 2019. During a discord call with Lil Mosquito Disease, Lil Squeaky, and Big Lil, they decided to record "Menace 2." Beetle provided ad libs in the track. The song was released on November 30, 2019.

Beetle decided to release a song himself, a school project for his Physics class. On December 22, he released "Physics", a parody of Maroon 5's "Memories." He announced he would be releasing an extended-play titled "Beginnings" in 2020. Mosquito and Schmoobin liked the song and signed him to Flex Entertainment on December 29, 2019. The music video for "Physics" was released on January 12, 2020. The video gained around 200 views in twenty-four hours, a previous record for his channel. Maroon 5 themselves may have seen the video. He also featured on the song "ICU" by Lil Expired Lettuce and MusiklyGyfted with his first rap verse.

On January 31, 2020, he became a Flex Entertainment executive for the creation of the Flex Entertainment Hot 100 chart. He released his second single "On The Regular" on June 5, 2020. It debuted at No. 28 on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100. It went on to peak at No. 10, becoming his first top ten single. He performed his songs "Physics", "On The Regular" and an unreleased "Fresh" at Flex Fest 2020. On October 20, he released a trailer announcing that the EP would finally be released on October 23. The next day, he revealed the cover art and tracklisting on his Instagram. Every track from the EP became a Top 20 hit on the Flex Hot 100. Beetle announced in his "Story of Beginnings" video that there will be a music video for "Patrol" in the future.

On November 13, 2020, Beetle was demoted as an executive due to inactivity but was repromoted on February 23. On December 24, Beetle announced there would be a remix for "Patrol" featuring Lil Mosquito Disease and Young Ryan G. It was released on Christmas Day.

2021-2023: Be Dumb Bro
Beetlebat teased an upcoming tropical house song produced by Lil Squeaky. "Sun Goes Down" was announced on March 26, 2021 which has a feature from pop artist Ben Riggle. It was released on March 27, 2021. A remix of the song made by Canadian electronic producer 5ach!† was later released on May 28th. It leaped from No. 25 to No. 1 on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100, becoming his first ever number one single. It became his most successful chart hit lasting a whole year on the chart. He announced in his last video of 2021 that he would be releasing his debut mixtape in 2022 and a new single would drop in the first quarter of 2022.

He announced to release a new song titled "Innocent" on April 8th, 2022, after one year. This was announced during Beetle's first YouTube video in four months where he was shown being spotted by cops. The conceptual song is about Beetle being accused by a woman for harassing her on the beach. The video amassed three-hundred views and forty likes in twenty-four hours, his fastest growing video since "Physics" in 2020. The song debuted at No. 2 on the Flex Entertainment Hot 100. A remix was secretly assembled by Lil Squeaky featuring himself, Tending Bike and SWAGMAN67, and was released shortly thereafter. He would hop on an R&B track with Lil Squeaky called "One Bent Knee", released on June 10, 2022. Beetle continued his hot 2022 with the pop rap single "This Year" featuring fellow ginger Payden McKnight, which was released on July 25, 2022. A music video would be released on August 12, 2022. This would allow the track to reach the number one spot, securing Beetle's fourth and Payden's second number one single.

On September 26, Beetle put out a last night tweet using Base64 encoder to state "Announcement 3 PM EST." At that time, Beetle announced that his debut mixtape "Be Dumb Bro" would be released on September 30. "Be Dumb Bro" received overall positive reviews from critics, averaging a score of 74 on AlbumOfTheYear. The reception was fairly divided with reviews panning the record, calling it disappointing, enjoying it, and some calling it one of the best Flex releases of 2022. He performed at Flex Fest 2022 on November 5, 2022, performing "Session", "Flex On Em", "Blackout", "Innocent", "On The Regular", and "Sun Goes Down." A deluxe edition of mixtape was put out on November 18, featuring three new songs and previously released "Diagnosis." He continued to promote the project with the release of the music video for "Blackout" on November 25, which just happened to be Black Friday. It rose to No. 3 on the Flex Charts following its release and eventually peaked at No. 2. On December 4, 2022, he announced that he would be doing his first ever live concert at the Fowler Conservation Club on December 16. It was titled as "Be Dumb Bro: The Live Experience." The concert attracted a crowd of 40-50 people, mostly from his hometown nearby. He performed fifteen songs in total with some of those being "Innocent", "On The Regular", "Physics", and "Blackout." The crowd was pleased with Beetle's performance for his charisma and energetic behavior. Beetle ended off the year with a holiday track "Flex Gang Christmas" that was made in one hour alongside Lil Mosquito Disease and Yung Lambo. It was released on December 25, or Christmas Day.

Beetlebat announced that a music video for "The Grocery List Song" had been filmed, the fifth and final single from "Be Dumb Bro." It was released on January 22, 2023, featuring Domumus with a Vandee mask. It was filmed in an actual Kroger and had trippy editing from Beetle. The video released positive reviews from fans. It leaped to No. 9 following the music video, becoming Beetle's 20th top ten single. It went on to peak at No. 6.

2023-present: Desire
In January, Beetle announced on Discord that he has been writing multiple songs for his upcoming mixtape. He told people to be prepared for April. On April 11, Beetle released a trailer walking around a Daytona Beach hotel before announcing a new single for Friday. The next day, he confirmed that lead single "Over Here" would be released on April 14 with a music video. It was surprisingly met with negative reviews, with Lambo referring to it as the new “On the Regular.” Despite the poor reception, it became his first number one debut and sixth overall. At the end of the video, Beetle announced he would be doing his second concert at Pierson 319 in St Johns. The event took place on April 21 along with surprise guest appearances from Ben Riggle and Vandee. During the show, he announced his second mixtape would be titled "Desire" with a release date in August.

Personal life
Beetlebat currently resides in Michigan where he has lived his entire life. He is a baptized and confirmed Catholic. He graduated from high school on May 23, 2021.

Health issues
He has had several medical issues throughout his life including the development of scoliosis, a condition in which a person's spine has a sideways curve. He was diagnosed in 2010, leading to him to wear a fitted back brace for six years. He described it as "uncomfortable but necessary." By 2018, he no longer had to wear the brace as his spine had been aligned to a comfortable curve. His condition was later referenced on his 2022 single "Diagnosis" alongside fellow scoliosis-haver Big Baller B with the lyric "Scolosis, give your girl a diagnosis." He would also claim in the track that his "back was hurt from carrying this damn label".

Critical Reception
Beetlebat's music was received negatively initially, with many calling him a horrible artist and one of the worst in Flex. However more recently his music has been celebrated for how charming and fun it is with Beginnings becoming more and more popular. In recent times he has become an icon in the label who has acquired high levels of respect and praise, and "Sun Goes Down" is widely considered to be one of the greatest dancepop songs of all time. He became more of a mixed reception artist in 2021. After the release of the positively received singles "Innocent" and "This Year", along with his 2022 features, his material is now positively well received. Most of his older material has grown on people as time as gone on. "Be Dumb Bro" was positively received by critics and fans, seeing it as a major step forward.

Controversies
Beetlebat's Flex Entertainment Hot 100 chart has been the subject of much controversy, with many calling him a "simp" for the placement of Emily Finchum's songs so high and in such an abundant amount on the charts, and for having an advantage in which he can see all of his streaming numbers, whereas other artists must go out of their way to send him theirs. Beetlebat has issued numerous public statements in which he expressed his frustrations with those who questioned the charts. He has continued making the charts, banning Emily Finchum from the charts for making them unfair to smaller artists. This decision was in and of itself controversial, with former Flex artist Yung Garfield stating that it "does nothing" and is "unfair to Emily." He also temporarily nerfed Ya Boy Payden and Lil AK Trap's placements on the charts as they were both suspected of botting their streaming numbers, which have resulted in a number of public feuds involving Payden and MC Icy.

Beetlebat's promotion to executive in January 2020 sparked much debate about how qualified he was to be an executive, and his lack of contributions towards the end of 2020 sparked much criticism of his position. Some say he had helped the label more after being demoted. He returned to executive status on February 23 following the label's regret of the decision. Since this decision, he has gone on to be one of the most hard working people in the Flex Entertainment label and a top tier executive.

He had also gotten into a beef with electronic producer 5ach!†. 5ach!† was originally commissioned to mix one of Beetlebat's songs "Turn it Up", but after a decision of banning him from the Flex Entertainment Discord server, he was blocked and fired, with the mixing being handled with Lil Squeaky instead. A few months later after the song's release on "Beginnings", 5ach!† decided to take action against Beetlebat and Lil Squeaky. 5ach!† claimed it was "unfair" due to him being friended with Beetlebat on Discord which made no reason for Beetlebat to block him, as well as his dislike over Lil Squeaky's mix in the song which had vocals (whether intentionally or not) louder than the beat. Their beef was later settled.

Trivia

 * Other than Big Baller B, beetlebat is perhaps one of the most well known Flex YouTubers. Many of his videos have become a part of Flex lore including "I TURNED MYSELF INTO A CARTOON!", "WE FINALLY BEAT THEM", "EATING MEAT FOR THE FIRST TIME" and "EATING PIZZA FOR THE FIRST TIME". His documentary on Brad Taste In Music became his most popular video within twenty-four hours, garnering fourteen-thousand views. It has over twenty thousand as of now and caused massive growth for his channel. His documentary series "The Appeal" has also been great for his channel.
 * Beetlebat is well known for his thousands of Last.FM scrobbles and his love for Maroon 5, Marianas Trench and Twenty One Pilots.
 * Beetlebat's good friend Ben Riggle is also a popular artist in the Flex Entertainment community. His friends Limeade, Lil Kevdog, Lil John Cena, Domumus, and Vandee have also been talked about. Upon the release of "Sun Goes Down," Ben Riggle was famously bombarded with feature requests by Flex Entertainment members.
 * Beetlebat is well known for giving out lots of 6/10s on music reviewing sites.
 * Beetlebat was highly speculated to release an album called "The Middle" in 2021 after Flex Entertainment artist Lil Squeaky revealed a "tracklist" for the project. The tracklist featured appearances from a wide variety of artists from celebrities such as The Weeknd to former Flex Entertainment artist Amazing Blizzard. This would be completely false.
 * He is a practicing Catholic, baptized in 2002 and confirmed in 2016.

Discography
List of songs recorded by beetlebat

Guest Apperances

 * Ruckle Hero (Beetlebat remix) by Ruck (Production)
 * "First Glance" by Domumus (Engineer)